In chilling news today, it appears that after further investigation, the passengers on the Qantas A380 which made the emergency landing were even closer to disaster than first thought. Shrapnel from the exploded engine punctured the aircraft’s fuel tank in the wing.

Experts believe it was a matter of luck that the fuel did not ignite ignite and cause a huge explosion.

Australian media company Fairfax Media has revealed that initial reports that show speeding parts of metal shot from the engine and through a fuel line making holes in structural spars in the plane’s wing, this then struck the fuselage and tore through wing panels. At the same time pilots were faced with system failures and took an hour to work through a series of system error messages.

Vice-president of the Australian and International Pilots Association Richard Woodward told the Associated Press: “I don’t think any crew in the world would have been trained to deal with the amount of different issues this crew faced.”

“The amount of failures is unprecedented. There is probably a one in 100 million chance to have all that go wrong.”